Private schools for kids, or invest the cash for the kids?

There was a hint of selfish behaviour at the end there, not excused by the daughter being selfless. However the point I took out of it was that the lack of financial burden allowed the mother to be available, and as a happy role-model.

Other parents with investment portfolios can simply flip one and pay for several years of private schooling, without having to sacrifice family time. The decision is easier when one doesn't have this luxury.

 

Maybe look at the end result,and that can become a problem when you are swayed by other people opinions and the authority of professionals within the private school system and looking back while going foward the money WE spent is worth every cent 1000 fold..

 

She had 10 years to save before private school arose, did she make the effort so that school fees wouldn't be a burden later on? Obviously not. Has she been a stay at home mum for the last 10 years (if that option still exists today)? Did she live the life for the 10-15 years between leaving school/uni and popping out sprogs?

 

The issue here is that it will be the low skilled low paying jobs that disappear the fastest. A university degree will not be ticket to success in the future like it once was; nevertheless, with checkout jobs disappearing and basic admin jobs now requiring degrees, a degree still retains its importance. Unless you can get a trade.

Where are you teaching? This is not my experience of the profession. While the profession is certainly left leaning, all reasonable views at the schools I have worked in have been respected.

Money is definitely discussed within the curriculum. Mathematics has an entire unit every year devoted to it and I personally have taught everything from the concept of supply and demand, the purpose of interest rates and the nature of money through the year 7-10 humanities curriculum. And of course at VCE students can choose to study Business Management, Accounting and or Economics.

While there are certainly some teachers with a lack of financial literacy, what I find even more concerning are teachers entering the profession with a lack of basic literacy skills. Perhaps you should spend less time bashing those within your profession and spend a little more time working on that aspect of your practice.

 

Law degree is about 5 years, which means about 9 years between graduating uni and having her first child according to the story. She had a number of "uninspiring jobs in corporate insurance" so let's say 3 jobs at 1.5 years each, meaning she worked a 6-figure job for 4-5 years.

If she saved every dollar from her job (and her husband paid for all living expenses) then that means she should have saved up at least $350k ($100k gross for 5 years) or enough for 2-3 private high school educations with scholarship help.

So yes it could be possible that she was selfish and didn't stash away 1/3 of her salary for her daughter's private education.

 

I think it boils down to what you wish your child to end up , isn't it?

First son went to a very expensive private school (think 40K annual)...luckily he scored a scholarship...it was his choice ...and he ended up doing Medicine..

Second (brighter and more precious) child turned down 3 scholarships MLC, Meriden and PLC ...it was her choice again (although dad and i were quite on edge on this lost opportunity)...she chose the no. 1 selective school in Sydney.
Looks like she will end up doing Medicine or Law too!

I was a lil concerned about the stress from over-studying but overall i was quite surprised ...lovely, lovely students and some quite quirky (i love quirky people)..she was heavily involved in drama, prefects etc etc .

Don' t think there are no networking going on in selective schools.. in fact, i would hasten to say due to a certain racial bias in these schools and the upcoming power of Asia (esp. China)...this networking would be even more useful!

And don't think for an instant these are poor people in selective schools, on the contrary there are some Really wealthy ones amongst her classmates...the amt they spend on private tuition can equal these private school fees!

So both kids end up roughly the same in terms of academics but second child, i feel is more self motivated, more gritty ...

So my take is:
a) hell no! i would not pay for private (and i am talking private private)
b) if i have a daughter, nope i would have second thots about private girls school as teenage girls can be quite bitchy; boys have sports to even themselves out.
c) does your son like sport? It can be grim if answer is no! sports all the away till year 12 three times a week!
d) not all is hunky dory in private schools...
e) 90% of "real" education starts at home isn't it?

 

Hi Guys,

Which area did you ended up moving to any updated tips on public vs private or selective ?

 

@virgo you have bright kids. Good on you! I'm thinking Kings and Tara for mine...still thinking.

 

We ended up biting the bullet and enrolled them in the top private schools. However, they'll sit the tests for the state selective school, and see where we go from there.

 

Good luck